


there's no need to be alone

by SafelyCapricious



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Homelessness, Memory Loss, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 07:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5366834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sees him out of the corner of her eye as they drive through the intersection, cardboard clutched in his hand.</p><p>She cranes around in her seat, but she can’t confirm or deny from the back of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there's no need to be alone

**Author's Note:**

> RANDOM LYRIC STARTER SENTENCES - THERE'S NO NEED TO BE ALONE; BIOSPECIALIST, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
> 
> ASKED BY ANONYMOUS.
> 
> Previously posted on Tumblr

She sees him out of the corner of her eye as they drive through the intersection, cardboard clutched in his hand.

She cranes around in her seat, but she can’t confirm or deny from the back of him.

It has to be a trick. Either one played by her mind or one played by him. They haven’t heard from him in…too long. Long enough that they’d assumed – but it probably wasn’t him.

It takes her a few days before she has the time to go back.

It’s not a good neighborhood, but under the bridge is especially bad. She runs through what May has taught her in her head, hand gripped on the dendrotoxin spray she has in her pocket.

He’s not at the intersection, instead there’s a woman who, if Jemma had her druthers, would be getting treatment for any number of things.

It takes her half an hour to find him, still under the bridge but several intersections over. She observes him from across the street for a long while – long enough that she starts getting looks from the people on their beat up couches, hungry looks from dirty faces.

She takes a deep breath and approaches him, still not convinced. “Ward?” her voice is gentle, cautious. Her grip on the spray is tight.

He turns around to face her, and there’s blankness in his eyes that should bring her relief. This was the man who had tried to kill her multiple times.

There is no recognition there. He tilts his head and blinks, offers a smile that looks sincere – but they always did.

He’s scruffy. Scruffier than he was even down in the Vault. “That’s my name. Do I know you?”

She can see, now, that his cardboard sign reads “Afghan Veteran, homeless and hungry”. She wonders, her mind refusing to settle on what’s before her, if he was ever in Afghan. He’d told the team stories of all kinds of places, but he’d never mentioned there.

For all that some of the others had been pushy, he’s not, just waiting. Not minding as the cars with their potential change get a green light and go rushing past.

She lets out a breath and says, “You used to.” She hesitates. This is a bad idea. She offers anyways. “Can I buy you a meal?”

He’s eyes are wary, suddenly, and she doesn’t want to think about what that could mean.

It’s been four years since they found out he was HYDRA. Three since they last saw him.

How many of those has he spent like this?

He shifts, offers, “The diner just a block down.”

She nods. She passed it on her way, it had looked like it violated every health code there was. If that was where he was comfortable though…She still has the spray. Just in case.

They walk in silence.

It’s not comfortable. She doesn’t know what to say.

He’s not himself, and she knows it. He’s not even moving like himself and although part of her believes, even now, that it could be a trick to lull her into a false sense of security, they pass far too many dark alleyways along the walk – and he shies away from them more than she does – for her to feel too unsafe.

What she ends up saying, when they reach the very dingy dinner is the last thing she expected, and she feels just as shocked as he looks when she says, “I knew you. Before…this. I can help. There’s no need to be alone, anymore.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find my writing tumblr [here](http://capriciouswrites.tumblr.com/). <3 Prompts are always welcome! Come say hi!


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